Day 15 & 16 – Not sure when one stops and the next starts

As the title may imply, I’m not really sure when day 15 (yesterday) and day 16 (today) starts/ends. For that reason I’ll post about both days and maybe you can help me figure it out.

Yesterday I woke up in Deadwood, SD right outside of Sturgis. I rolled out early because it was going to be the start of a long day. I first drove through the towns of Deadwood, Lead and Sturgis. I attempted to take some pictures from the car as I went through but realized it was a little too dangerous with all of the people walking around. From there I made my way toward Mt. Rushmore.

On the way I saw a sign for a place called “Bear Country.” There was several rows of cars at the gate so I said what the heck and got in line too. HA! I didn’t even have any idea as to what I was going to be doing/seeing. I finally got to the front of the line and was instructed to keep my windows up through out the drive. Yeah that didn’t happen much. Anyway, I followed a line of cars across a winding road that led from one group of animals to another. As we approached the “bear den” I saw tons of electric fence and an outpost on the horizon with a guard in it. Insert flashbacks from every Jurassic Park movie here. I knew where this was going. Thankfully, I drove through unharmed. Truthfully though, it was a waste of $16 in my opinion. I mean I was hoping to at least make it on YouTube as one of those fools that gets a giraffe head in the window of the car…. or something. On the way out you could park and go in the baby sanctuary of all the small animals. Well I had places to be so didn’t stop. I did notice LOTS of out of state vehicles parked there though. I saw license plates for Kentucky, Nebraska, Wyoming, Michigan, South Carolina, Florida, Wisconsin and Texas. Well those are the ones I remember. I’m sure a lot of these people were there for Sturgis and just happened to drive through like I did.

Back on the road and off to see Mount Rushmore. I was advised the night before by a wise man not to park or I would be scammed out of $11. LOL! He told me to do like everyone else and park on the road. That’s exactly what I did. I took a couple pictures of Mount Rushmore and one of nearby Horsethief Lake.

Now it was time to make some decisions. I was scheduled to make two more stops before heading back to Lexington, KY. I really didn’t have anything to do in the areas I was going to be stopping in so…. let’s go out with a bang. I’ll attempt to drive 19 hours (1,312 miles) from Mount Rushmore in South Dakota to Lexington, Kentucky. Thus the reason the days started running together. I fueled up and took off like a crazed maniac. Around 11 hours in I was pretty exhausted. Only stopping once or twice during that time I was stiff as all get out too. I’m not giving up that easy though. I pulled in a rest area, went to sleep in the car for about 5 hours and hit the rode again. I finished up the remaining 8 or so hours to end up here in Lexington today. Exhausting!!

Oh and I kept seeing signs for a place called Wall Drug. Yeah, I was suckered in. Glad I was because I had a delicious meal there that really helped to fuel my journey ahead. The drugstore originally opened in 1931.